Barrel stave?

[brownni5]

On a trip to Louisville, a buddy of mine picked up a barrel stave from a distillery (it's in the basement - I can't think of which distillery, but it's not important). He asked if I wanted to brew with it and gave it to me. After thinking about it, I decided I might not want to do so since it's big and only toasted on one side. I can cut it to make it smaller, but is there a way to char/toast it without ruining the bourbon character? I'd like to add it to an upcoming old ale I'm going to brew. If it's too much trouble, I'll just give it back to him.

Thanks!

 

[fourfarthing]

Bumping as I think this is a cool project.

My guess is you can cut it into smaller pieces, boil and toss into the fermenter until you get the desired flavor.

Boil just to kill bugs.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Don't boil it to sanitize, you'll leech out a bunch of the flavor. Bake it instead.
I wouldn't hesitate to char it a bit more, cut into chunks then soak them in some cheap bourbon before use.
This way you can use them over and over again.

 

[beersk]

Don't boil it to sanitize, you'll leech out a bunch of the flavor. Bake it instead.
I wouldn't hesitate to char it a bit more, cut into chunks then soak them in some cheap bourbon before use.
This way you can use them over and over again.

Do you keep them soaked in bourbon all the time unless they're in a beer? How do you store them?

 

[Jayjay1976]

Do you keep them soaked in bourbon all the time unless they're in a beer? How do you store them?

I store my new pieces dry in a plastic bag. I'll soak them for a week or two before use, and typically dump some or all of the soaking liquor into the beer along with the wood chunks since a lot of the flavor extracts from them. Sometimes if its a larger batch of wood I'll leave half of the liquor behind to soak new chunks in, imparting additional flavor to them. I pretty much always have jars of whisky, bourbon, and dark rum on hand with wood chunks soaking in them, so they are ready when inspiration strikes.

After they have been used to age beer I don't throw them out either, they can be used raw to flavor neutral spirits bringing barrel-aged beer flavors. An example would be the cubes used to age a stout brewed with smoked malts. Also, used chunks work great for adding flavor and smoothing out cheap bourbon (high ten is a great one), plus they can be mixed in with new oak to lend some complexity. I like buying medium plus charred oak cubes, they are a great place to start and relatively cheap.

Experimenting with oak aging is kinda like making Belgian candi syrups; a lot of fun for very little money and can become a hobby in itself.

 

[beersk]

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

 

[Harleybrew32]

I have a barrel from Jack Daniels distillery that my buddy put Maple syrup in to age. once he sold the batch one of the barrels broke so he sent it to me. I cut the staves up into 1foot pieces to use. I did a cider and toasted one in the oven, tip use a toaster oven and put it outside. the cider was great not to much oak and just a hint of bourbon.